Cats may prefer cardboard boxes to fancy toys, but that didn’t stop maker CircuitCindy from building a full-on slot machine just for her feline friend. Pull the lever, watch three reels whirl, and if the symbols line up — out pops a treat.
The build looks every bit like a casino floor, only scaled for paws. Three independent reels covered in cat-friendly symbols (fish, paws, and friends) spin, slow, and settle with a satisfying mechanical jitter. A pity counter watches every play; if the kitty’s losing streak gets too long, the firmware quietly fixes the next spin so dinner is served. It’s the same anti-frustration trick modern video games use, repurposed here for a hungry tabby.
Behind the scenes, it’s a clever stepper-motor exercise. Each reel is calibrated so the code knows exactly how many motor steps correspond to each symbol position. That’s why the spins land cleanly on cherries — or, in this case, salmon. The reels also spin through 10, 12, and 14 full revolutions before slowing, giving the whole machine a deliciously mechanical feel.
What’s inside the build
- Arduino UNO R4 WiFi — the brains, with cloud integration for remote tuning
- CNC Shield V3 — clean stacking for the stepper drivers
- Three A4988 stepper drivers — one per reel, for independent control
- Cytron MD10C motor driver — runs the DC treat-dispenser motor
- Microswitch lever — the all-important pull handle
When a winning combination lands, the DC motor turns a disk that drops one treat into the bowl, then briefly reverses to keep the dispenser jam-free. Through the Arduino Cloud dashboard, CircuitCindy can adjust the pity rate right from a phone — handy for dialing generosity up on lazy Sundays.
Build it yourself
Want to recreate the magic? Grab an Arduino UNO R4 WiFi as the controller, a CNC Shield V3 to stack on top, three A4988 stepper drivers for the reels, and a Cytron MD10C to drive the DC dispenser motor. Add a microswitch for the lever, three NEMA-style steppers for the reels, and a 3D-printed enclosure to tidy up the wiring. The Arduino Cloud dashboard is optional, but it’s a fun upgrade if you want phone-side control.
Whether cats truly enjoy games of chance is still up for debate, but the mechanical theatre alone makes this one of the more entertaining Arduino builds we’ve seen this month. Source inspiration: Hackster.
Frequently Asked Questions
What boards and drivers power this cat slot machine?
It runs on an Arduino UNO R4 WiFi paired with a CNC Shield V3 that stacks three A4988 stepper drivers — one per reel. A Cytron MD10C drives the DC motor that turns the treat-dispenser disk, and a microswitch detects the lever pull.
How does the machine make sure the cat actually wins sometimes?
A built-in pity counter tracks consecutive losses. After a preset number of misses, the firmware overrides the random reel positions and forces a winning alignment, dispensing a treat. The pity rate can be tuned remotely through the Arduino Cloud dashboard.
What will I learn if I build this?
You’ll get hands-on practice driving multiple stepper motors with A4988s, calibrating step counts to physical positions, sequencing motion for a polished feel (the spin-and-jitter), wiring a separate DC motor through its own driver, and connecting an Arduino UNO R4 WiFi to the cloud for remote control — solid stepping stones for any motion-control or robotics project.
